Tent-pole.



PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

T. J. HOOK. TENT POLE.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG, 11, 1904` nwntoz J H0 a UNITED STATES Patented June 6, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

TE NT-POLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. '1791,908, dated June 6, 1905.

Application fue@ August 11, 1904. serai No. 220,411.

To f/JZ whom t may concern' Be it known that I, THOMAS J. HOOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hardinsburg, in the county of Breckinridge and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tent-Poles; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to tent-poles; and the object of the same is to provide a tent-pole which will automatically take up the slack in the tent-canvas in dry weather and yield to the contraction of the tent in wet weather.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive tent-pole provided with a spring-pin designed to fit an aperture in the ridge-pole of the tent and to always keep the tent-canvas comparatively taut in all kinds of weather.

Another object is to provide a tent-pole having a yielding connection therein in order to obviate the necessity of adjusting the guyropes during the expansion and contraction of the tent-canvas and also to prevent the ridgepole from sagging in the center.

I attain these and other objects by means of the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tent provided with my improved tent-pole. Fig. 2 is a side view of the upper end of a tent-pole made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through the upper end of my tent-pole, and Fig. 4 is a side view of a portion of a tent-pole having' a yielding section therein made in accordance with my invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more particular description of my invention, the numeral 1 designates a tent of the usual or any preferred construction. 2 designates the guy-ropes. 3 designates the tent-pins. 4 is the ridge-pole, and 5 5 are the tent-poles or uprights.

My tent-pole may be formed of wood or metal and at the upper end is provided with a socket 6, having a reduced lower end portion 7 and a fel-rule 8 at its upper end. Within the central portion of the socket is mounted a pin or rod 9, the lower end of which is adapted to t the reduced portion of the socket to move freely therein. A spiralspring 10 surrounds the pin or rod and bears at its lower end upon the shoulder 11 at the bottom of the enlarged portion of the socket 6. The upper end of the spring 10 bears against a stop-pin 12, driven through an aperture 13 in the pin 9, said stop 12 also serving as a guide to insure a central position of the pin 9 within the socket. In order to adjust the tension of the spring 10, the stoppin 12 may be passed through any one of the perforations 13 in the rod 9. A stop 14 is formed on the rod 9 at such a distance above the socket as will permit a limited vertical movement of the rod 9 when pressure is brought to bear upon the upper end of the pin.

The operation of my device Will be apparent from the foregoing and may be described as follows: The upper end of the pin 9 is passed through an aperture in the ridge-pole 4, the bottom of the said ridge-pole resting upon the stop 14. Any number of tent-poles may be used, and during Wet weather, when the canvas and guy-ropes contract, the spring 10 will yield to the pressure from above, and thus obviate any adjustment of the guy-ropes.

In dry Weather the spring 10 will expand and still hold the tent-canvas taut, thus always insuring a good appearance to the tent without requiring frequent adjustments.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that by means of my construction I mayprovide a yielding section in a tent-pole at any point within its length, and I may use this yielding section in connection with a pole having a spring-pin at its upper end, if found desirable. It will also be noted that the stop-pin 12 serves to hold the rod within the socket 6 by coming in contact with the inner wall of the ferrule 8.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that my device is of simple construction, can be made at small cost, is durable and eflcient for its purpose, and that during transportation the spring-pin need not be removed from the socket, and that the poles are ready for use at all times without assembling the parts.

Having thus described my invention, What 100 I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A tent-pole having a socket therein, the lower portion of said socket being` reduced in size, a rod mounted within said socket, a springl surroundin, g` said rod and bearing` at its lower end upon a shoulder in said socket, a stop-pin at the upper end of the spring, said pin also serving to center the rod in the socket, and a stop formed on the rod above the socket, substantially as described.

2. A tent-pole provided with a socket having` a ferrule at its upper end, a rod having a plurality of perforations therein and mounted within the socket, a spring` surroundinzg` the rod, an adjustable stop-pin at the upper end of the spring, said stop-pin also serving to center the rod within the socket and to prevent the withdrawal of the rod from the socket, substantially as described.

tion comprising' a socket1 a rod mounted there? in, a spring, surrounding the rod and `bearing` upon a shoulder in the socket, an adjustable stop-pin above the spring adapted to be passed through holes in the pin or rod to regulate the tension of the spring, a ferrule upon the upper end of the pole, and a stop on the rod outside of the socket, the terminal end of the rod being seated within the end of a contigw ous section of the tent-pole, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing` witmesses.

THOMAS J. HOOK.

Titn ess es:

J. A. HooK, P. S. COMPTON. 

